KIDNEY STONES: THE FORMATION OF CALCIUM OXALATE CRYSTALS. Birk Mitau, Daniel Porter, Brian Jing About 5% of American women and 12% of men will develop a kidney stone at some time in their life. The purpose of the lab was to produce the calcium oxalate crystals responsible for the formation of kidney stones and to observe the effects of lemon juice and grapefruit juice on the crystallization. Calcium oxalate crystals are one of the most common components of kidney stones. To inhibit the crystallization, lemon juice was added to the mixture, and to promote crystallization grapefruit juice was added to the mixture. Citric acid, found in lemon juice has been shown to inhibit calcium oxalate crystallization, but there is little agreement as to why grapefruit juice promotes crystallization. Through two trials with slightly different procedures, no control successfully produced calcium oxalate in its crystallized form. Thus, the efficacy of lemon juice and grapefruit juice on preventing or promoting the crystallization could not be determined. One possible way to improve the procedure would be to take note of and adjust the pH levels throughout the experiment. Crystal formation has been observed in vivo, but crystal formation occurs under very specific conditions in vitro.
Key Terms: Calcium Oxalate, Kidney Stones, Crystallization, Citric Acid, pH
2) Curhan, Gary, Willett, Walter, Rimm, Eric, Spiegelman, Donna, Stampfer, Meir. (1996). Prospective Study of Beverage Use and the Risk of Kidney Stones. http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/143/3/240.full.pdf+html 3) Michel, Robert. Homogeneous Precipitation. Retrieved from http://rgmlab.chem.uconn.edu/teaching/chem 232/Laboratory_Manual/GA3_Ca_by_homo_precp_revLS1.pdf 4) Trinchieri, A, Lizzano R, Bernardini P, Nicola M, Pozzoni F, Romano AL, Serrago MP, Confalanieri S. (2002, September). Effect of acute load of grapefruit juice on urinary excretion of citrate and urinary risk factors for renal stone formation. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12408462
Abstract:
Key Terms: Calcium Oxalate, Kidney Stones, Crystallization, Citric Acid, pH
Journal Citations:
1) Brouse, Richard. Kidney Stones Protocol. Retrieved from http://www.healthedcorp.com/articles/Kidney_Stones_HealthEdCorp.pdf
2) Curhan, Gary, Willett, Walter, Rimm, Eric, Spiegelman, Donna, Stampfer, Meir. (1996). Prospective Study of Beverage Use and the Risk of Kidney Stones. http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/143/3/240.full.pdf+html
3) Michel, Robert. Homogeneous Precipitation. Retrieved from http://rgmlab.chem.uconn.edu/teaching/chem 232/Laboratory_Manual/GA3_Ca_by_homo_precp_revLS1.pdf
4) Trinchieri, A, Lizzano R, Bernardini P, Nicola M, Pozzoni F, Romano AL, Serrago MP, Confalanieri S. (2002, September). Effect of acute load of grapefruit juice on urinary excretion of citrate and urinary risk factors for renal stone formation. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12408462